Really. I was on a bus that passed by somebody beating up another guy. The driver slowed the bus down, opened the doors, and yelled "The police are coming!" and the guy bolted. It's that simple.

"I did not even think about it"

is violence against women THAT normalized??

Wow. That's frightening. I think in this case, you'd really be the better person for breaking company policy and leaving your ticket booth. Even if you got fired, it would be worth it to save someone from being raped.

@mestiza: Most days, I think so. In some ways, stats saying how many women are sexually assaulted, which as a feminist I view as a sign we need to do more, tell others that it's okay because it's a normal part of American womanhood.

In agreement with Brandi, I think if I got fired for leaving my post to help someone whose life was in a danger, I would SUE THE SHIT out of my former employer.

Does the Good Samaritan Law extend to this? The one that says any civilian providing emergency first aid to someone injured can face no legal recourse for any negative outcome of his or her intended assistance? I mean . . . it's a stretch but one could argue that.

And good for this woman for having the strength to fight back against a system that allowed her to be raped. She's an example, I would say. I really admire that.

We are doing more readings about women who get raped in my class this week and I would like to see more information on how the trial went because I wonder if anyone tried to pin what happened on the women by making it seem like she was supceptible to this happening because of the way she was presenting herself because a lot of time people try to justify these actions in some way.
As for the two people not helping her, in today's society I feel that most people are just worried about themselves. If it's not happening to them then they don't want to get involved. It's sad that no one wants to help but people try to avoid what isn't doing harm to them and don't think twice about it.

I'm horrified, but this goes back to the bystander discussion we had with respect domestic violence sometime ago. I think staying in the booth is partly for the safety of the subway employees. He could have stepped outside the booth and shouted, the conductor could have shouted. Any of the passengers on the train could have shouted.

RevolutionarilySpeaking, the Good Samaritan laws all depends on the state. I'm not sure what NY's laws are. Some states only apply it to volunteering emergency personnel - ie, a paramedic who isn't on duty but decides to help someone in distress. From my (foggy) recollection, it also usually only applies to good faith efforts and doesn't cover gross negligence.

Does everything happen on the G train? Christ on a cracker.

I highly doubt any employer would fire someone for saving another person's life, so I'd place blame with the employee instead of the entire MTA. I mean, if their rules state to stay in the booth at all times, perhaps there should be an amendment that says "unless your life or that of someone else is in immediate danger and would be aided by your leaving" or something, so they can help without feeling like their job is in danger. Or at least don't have that excuse to fall back on for doing nothing.

I highly doubt any employer would fire someone for saving another person's life, so I'd place blame with the employee instead of the entire MTA.

There are probably a few reasons for placing the blame on the MTA. 1) Deeper pockets - which sounds cynical, I know, but if there's a larger entity to sue instead of the individual, the larger entity is going to get sued. 2) The concept of agency - at the time, the employee was acting in his capacity as an employee of the MTA, which makes the MTA responsible for his actions. Again, not knowing NY law leaves me not knowing their requirements for this general concept, but employers are usually on the hook when their employees cause harm to someone during the course of normal business operations.

I do agree though that in reality, what happened here was just a moral failure on the part of the people who didn't help. Do we really need special training and more flexible work policies to know how to help someone in danger?

The disconnect between humans that this incident illustrates is just devastating.

To add, it's like in the last election when people were saying how John Kerry had "violated orders" in Vietnam. The violation occurred when one of his men fell overboard. Instead of leaving him to die (which was, apparently, what they were instructed to do) he turned around and went back for the guy and saved his life.

Point being, sometimes a situation will arise when you must (gasp) use your brain and decide that the rules can be suspended for an extreme circumstance.

@profoundsarcasm: I agree, there should be an ammendment, but I also think it's kind of assumed. I mean, if the booth caught on fire or the guy's kid was about to fall on the train tracks, I'm pretty sure he would have left the booth, regardless of the policy. The policy isn't why he stayed, it's just the excuse he's using.

oh, alixana, I understand all that. I guess I was just speaking on a more personal note.

Honestly, I don't think it was because of hating women that he stayed in the booth. He didn't want to get shot or stabbed by this guy, and I don't blame him.

profoundsarcasm, sometimes I don't leave "work mode" when talking online. :) I hope I didn't come off as lectury!

jensy, I don't think anyone's accusing the guy of staying in his booth because he "hated women." Of course he was likely just trying to save his own ass. Morally though, that's kind of problematic.

Jensy, there's something between running up to the guy and jumping on him and calling command and doing nothing else. He could have yelled or something, frequently just making it known that someone else is there is enough to make an attacker run.

alixana - 's cool :)

Tara K - Even if it is assumed, they should have it in writing so it's official and no one can use it as an excuse. If nothing else, it would save the MTA's ass and hold the employees responsible.

@RevolutionarilySpeaking; @alixana;

I believe the Good Samaritan law says that you aren't liable for an injury provided you don't leave the person in a worse-off condition. And it *doesn't* require you to do anything to help.

This is such a distressing story. God forbid someone not get their tickets on time while someone else gets raped.

In DC, the ticket booth people are great (at least the ones I've come in contact with). They have always gone out of their way to be helpful, and I would hope this could never happen here.

This reminds me of the recent case where the woman who was unable to walk had to drag herself through an airport while no one helped. What is wrong with these people? These companies? I just can't imagine something like this happening and not rushing to help. At a minimum, these companies need to start training their employees on how to deal with (what i consider to be) foreseeable emergencies.

I don't think that the guy in the booth did anything wrong. He noticed what was happening and he called for help. I mean, he actually did something - it's not like he just sat there staring - he did call for help.

I think that the lawsuit is justified against MTA because it was their policies that instructed the employees to just call for help and then stay in the booth. Obviously MTA needs to have better practices for safety, and better training for its employees who may encounter dangerous situations. Making sure employees are trained and prepared for a situation, and implementing processes that will help instead of just cover the bases falls squarely on the employer.

I think that more could have been done in this situation, but I do not think that the token booth clerk and the train conductor did anything wrong.

Sorry, I think I phrased that poorly. I don't mean the Good Samaritan Law should be used in defense of the person who didn't help. What I mean is that if he ran and left his post to help someone, shouldn't the law extend to protect him for recourse from his employer? I know that it doesn't, but shouldn't it?? That's what i tried to say.

MiloJ, perhaps from a purely technical standpoint, he did nothing wrong, but from a moral standpoint, he certainly did. Anyone who can just stand and watch as a woman's taken off to be raped has a screwed up moral code.

Just calling the police and waiting the 10 minutes while they arrived is sad. How could you sit there knowing someone was being violated that close to you at that instant? He just sat there!?!

eco- most people in NY don't even go to the booth for tickets- they go for directions and when your stupid MTA pass doesn't scan. And booth attendants are never friendly here in NY. This doesn't surprise me- it just sickens me. I disagree, Jensy, this MTA employee failed morally. To just watch someone get raped and do nothing... A bunch of people above have said he could have just shouted. And he didn't. Everyone on the platform is at fault here. And MTA will have to modify their policies after this lawsuit. This woman is incredibly brave.

That is absolutely sickening. I feel cold and shaky all over. This hits WAY too close to home for me.

I'm glad she is pressing charges against someone though.

This makes me wonder about the so-called "off-hours" seating in some stations. I always thought they were to protect customers because they were right next to the ticket booths. I believe that station would require the rapist to go past the ticket booth on their way out, and while they are theoretically lockable, it would be like fish in a barrel to break the glass/shoot the attendant. I want to think that this was what he was thinking, because the alternative is so terrible.

As an aside, I work with a group called Right Rides, which gives women/transgenders free rides home Saturday nights, exactly because of incidents like this. www.rightrides.org

Again this is just another example of the anomie that we are currently undergoing. We simply do not care about one another. In a more recent incident a woman was punched over and over again in a packed McDonalds an no one but a 7 year old child checked to see if she was okay.
Violence has become a normalized part of our culture so that when we see it happening right before our eyes we turn our backs on it instead of acting to prevent it. Think about how many acts of violence we see in the media that are "meant to be funny." We know that when this is happening to the person it is anything but a comedy routine. There are the rape jokes and the wife battering jokes. We even continually victim blame. I believe until we stop normalizing the violence as just part of everyday life we will continue to see horrors just like this.

"I did not even think about it"

What is wrong in this world?

As a woman who's been assaulted, I am fearful to physically intercede if I see a violent act. Instead, I call the police to report it (as I have when I've overheard a domestic dispute that had clearly gotten physically violent between my neighbors). From that standpoint, I don't want to say that because the booth clerk was a man he should have been required to personally try and stop the assault, for reasons that have already been mentioned above. I also think it is simplistic to claim that this means that people simply don't care about one another.

Given the way that violent crime is sensationalized in our media, I think it's more likely that people are afraid to get involved because they fear they will suffer personal injury if they do. Recall that a few months ago a busload of people watched a man stab his seatmate to death with a knife and then escaped from the bus to leave him to decapitate his victim. Why didn't any of them try and stop him? Obviously, they feared for their own personal safety.

"Recall that a few months ago a busload of people watched a man stab his seatmate to death with a knife and then escaped from the bus to leave him to decapitate his victim."

The details of this case are significantly different than the rape incident. The MTA employees were better equipped to act against the rapist, even if it was just a matter of stepping out of the booth and screaming (the layout of this station would have allowed the booth employee to do just that).

I live on the G line (this location is 2 stops away), and I'm rather stunned at all the "I don't think the booth agent or conductor did anything wrong" comments. Of course, I'm the fool who has called 911 in plain view of a man abusing his wife (or gf?) on the street.

I hope never to be caught in the trenches with a few of you.

Jane, right on, I'd never want to be in the trenches with some of these folks either.

Just a note, as a frequent Subway rider: THE BOOTH IS NOT ALWAYS STAFFED. It is a lie that someone will be fired just for leaving the booth. Maybe if they leave and get caught, but in this instance; leaving, stopping a rape and getting caught is something I'd be proud to go to court for.

I was on a train and a woman started to randomly yell at another woman. I thought it was funny until she started to attack her too. No less than 5 men moved away instead if trying to stop the 5'2 woman. The only person trying to stop it, on a crowded train, was me, but the train stopped and there was a cop right there before I could get down to the end of the train. I am not surprised about this story, but it really shows something about how people think and act. No more golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would you want people to see you being raped and do nothing?

Some people don't think twice about trying to help. Some people are scared out of their minds. MTA employees and the MTA however have a responsibility to provide passengers with safety. The booth attendants should have mace and billy club if they are too scared to yell something as someone is getting raped. This is friggin ridiculous.

Two gay men had a similar thing happen after pride.

The bus story makes NO sense, that happened a few months ago, this story is three years old. Also that person was waving a knife and someone's head, not raping a person in full view. A simple yell by the attendant could have had the full ability to stop the crime.

What's most fuct about this is that you KNOW that booth working would have done something if a kid had jumped the turnstile!

I understand being scared for one's own safety...but I really can't imagine standing by and doing nothing. Even if I couldn't leave my booth, I'd be banging on the glass like a crazed baboon. But you know what, screw protocol, I'd leave my booth anyway.

Anyone else remember all of the women who were raped in the dome after Katrina...and people stood by and watched. I don't understand it. I really don't. I remember there was an episode of Law & Order: SVU (yeah, fiction, I know) wherein there was a serial rapist on the subway and people watched and did nothing. It made me think "gee, what would I do if I saw a woman getting raped by a guy with a knife or gun?" Then I realized that I would probably get myself shot or stabbed. But it would be worth it. Or I'd live out my life never sleeping again.

Jane Minty- I've called the cops plenty of times in the 1 year I've lived in Brooklyn so far. If it looks like trouble, the least you can do is report it. Maybe it's nothing...but you never know.

yeah wen I was a kid I used to see or overhear things that I knew weren't quite right, but most of the time I didn't know what to do, so it was easy to feel like it wasn't my responsibility.

These days though, I've more understanding of violence against women and I'm a lot angrier about it, and I think the adrenaline would rush in and I'd be up for at least trying to intimidate the hell out of somebody. I tend to carry a folding knife with me too, just in case. (Not that I'm terribly skilled with a knife, but I figure someone who'd jump me wouldn't expect me to have a weapon, and that could be an advantage)

Being a NYer it really stings to hear this. What a loathsome sorry excuse for a human being.

First of all, while I definitely agree that the employees should have done more to help, I don't think it's fair to say they did NOTHING. They both followed protocol and called the command center. Obviously it's disgusting that they didn't do more, and the fact that the guy in the booth "didn't even think" to help, well, that really upsets me.

Food for thought though: when are you supposed to jump in and help, and when is the smarter idea to stay at a safe distance (call the police of course) and not risk getting into danger yourself?

The other day a man attacked a woman outside my work. Another man (a stranger) ran over and tried to help her. He was stabbed and died at the scene.

Personally, I wish everyones first instinct would be to help, regardless of their own safety. I do kind of understand why people hold back though.

MTA is unionized. Had the guy broken a procedural rule, he would not have been fired.

I generally support unions, but the fact remains that it is very difficult to fire a unionized employee, especially when they work for municipalities. In New York and many other cities, transit workers can put passengers in danger, can run over pedestrians, can get into accidents and kill people, and they still don't get fired. At best, they're reassigned to a position that doesn't put them in the driver's or conductor's seat. MTA rules are no excuse for the guy's actions.

This still isn't as bad as the actions of a Metro bus driver in Seattle. A group of rowdy teenagers got on his bus, attacked two other passengers, demanded that the driver open the back doors, and proceeded to drag out and beat down their victims. Not only did the driver break Metro rules by opening the back doors after 7pm, he didn't even call the police.

Hello everyone.

I'm new to this blog and I'd like to offer my perspective.

While I definitely think the booth agent could have taken more action than he did, its difficult for me to criticize a person for not being a hero when he just as easily could have become a victim himself. As a woman, that's difficult for me to admit because I would want someone to help me if ever I were in a similar situation.

To prevent tragedies like this one from happening in the future, there has to be a major societal paradigm shift. We can't live in a culture that promotes these irresponsible every-man-for-himself philosophies, then turn around and be surprised when people fail to step in on behalf of others.